1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a computer-based vehicle warranty and repair administration systems. More particularly, the present invention relates to a computer-networked warranty and repair administration system.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
In the field of automotive servicing, consumers purchase either new or used vehicles that may or may not have a warranty. Typically, a new automobile will come with a minimum thirty-six month warranty that covers the repair of most manufacturing-related problems. While in the past, most used cars have not been accompanied by any more than a ninety day limited warranty, a recent trend has been toward increasing coverage for certain xe2x80x9ccertifiedxe2x80x9d used cars. This trend has increased the importance of efficient, reliable vehicle service to providers of both warranty servicing and non-warranty servicing.
While automotive sales are obviously important to automobile dealerships, servicing also represents a substantial portion of their business. As such, vehicle dealerships have servicing departments which handle high volumes and therefore enjoy a heavy workload.
During a typical servicing write-up, a customer will arrive at the dealership either with or without an appointment and request xe2x80x9con the spotxe2x80x9d attention. The service advisor will make a brief determination of the necessary parts and labor needed to complete the repair. It is important to note that this vehicle write-up must be completed quickly in order for the servicing department to effectively handle a high volume of repairs. Thus, there is little time to perform an effective preliminary diagnosis, and underlying problems often appear after the repair process has begun and an estimate has been given. Another difficulty is presented by the fact that few resources exist that can aid in vehicle-specific diagnosis when determining servicing requirements. High employee turnover also typically exists at the service advisor position, which creates additional resource and scheduling difficulties.
The service advisor performs a repair estimate, creates an initial repair order, dispatches the work to a service technician, and monitors the progress of repair. The service associate also communicates the progress of repair back to the customer and serves as a point of contact. Upon completion of the servicing, the associate explains the services performed and supervises the return of the vehicle to the owner.
A shortcoming of this approach relates to the write-up process and the need for effective pre-diagnosis. Specifically, the collection of service information such as symptoms, customer identification and vehicle identification is performed manually and under substantial time constraints. Furthermore, the analysis of the service information is typically cursory.
The present invention overcomes the aforementioned disadvantages as well as other disadvantages. In accordance with the teachings of the present invention, a computer-based warranty administration system with a dialog manager is provided for collecting service information regarding a vehicle from a user. The system also preferably has a case based reasoning module for analyzing the service information to determine a diagnosis. The system further includes a repair processing module for administering warranty-specific service based on the diagnosis and the service information.
Further objects, features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from a consideration of the following description and the appended claims when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings.